Get Involved!

What's odd about these
pictures?

Forest Grove, OR

Marysville, CA

Tahoe City, CA

If you know anything at all about measuring temperature,
you'll see that these sites above don't meet the basic
criteria for scientifically valid observations. Yet, the
data from these weather stations is part of the USHCN data set
and is used by NASA to model climate, the IPCC to publish
reports, and your government to make policy decisions.

A hands-on photographic audit will help sort the good
stations from the bad ones to improve the reliability of the
data and conclusions drawn from it.

If you have a digital camera, a portable handheld GPS device
with accuracy within 100 feet or better, and the ability to
follow simple instructions, you can contribute to this database.

We have a growing online database of
USHCN, GHCN, and GISS station site surveys on our high speed
database server located at:

Pay particular to the area
of respecting privacy and property rights of station locations
and observers.

Many weather stations are
located on private or restricted property. Permission must be
obtained from the site curator, property owner, or facilities
manager before conducting any site survey.

Instructions:

How to find a USHCN station
near you:

Locate the station from the USHCN master list,
click to open
to see if the site has been surveyed yet. They are sorted by
state and city. Locate ones near you.

Open the
NOAA MMS Station locator to get better latitude/longitude
coordinates, press "Guest Login" button and then type station
name in the search box.

Locate the station in the list, note detailed latitude
and longitude info which you can put into Google Earth or
similar mapping program to help locate the station.

Click on the Name of the station, it will pop up a new
window. Note below the "Begin Date" there is a
highlighted link with the actual dates, click the date to open
details.

Look for "Managing Parties" in the MMS results (you
may have to scroll down) and that will tell you the name of
the observer, be it a private residence, government entity, or
organization. Do additional Google searches as needed for the
name, city, state and you may locate a telephone number.

Download our "How to Guide" and
station Survey form
here
and begin the station survey per those instructions

Your help is neededto document the
measuring environment and equipment condition of weather and
climate monitoring stations worldwide.

Anyone with a digital camera, handheld
GPS and and basic
observation and reporting skills can contribute to this
database.

To get started, first signup, then view and/or download the
instructions and site survey
form from here of from the online
image database at gallery.surfacestations.orgThen familiarize
yourself with them, and then choose what stations you want to
survey and contribute to this database.

Full credit is given to all
contributors of photos and survey forms, or if you wish, you can
submit a survey anonymously.